May 2018 Piano Recital

Our children have two piano recitals every year: one in December and one in May. The May 2018 piano recital was very exciting for us, because they received festival trophies after their performances. Let me explain.

Our children with their piano trophies – May 2018

The Federation Festival happens in March. The results get tallied every year and trophies are sent to the piano teachers, who can choose to award them privately or in a public ceremony, like at the end of a piano recital.

Our children have been participating in Federation Festivals for three years now. Every year, they received the highest mark, five stars or five points. Once you accumulate 15 points, you receive a trophy. At the May 2018 piano recital, their teacher handed them their first festival trophies.

Our daughter with her piano teacher, Anne May

As the years go by and you accumulate more and more points, you receive different trophies. They get larger with the number of points. The highest number of points is 60, which you can get after 12 years of five-point performances.

At the May 2018 piano recital, one of our piano teacher’s students received this biggest of trophies and, sure enough, he was a senior in high school. We are in good hands with Anne May, our children’s piano teacher.

Our son with his piano teacher, Ann May

Our children have been taking piano since 2014 and 2015 respectively, our son having started about six months prior to our daugher. She was really young, but she could not sit on the sidelines any longer. She asked for lessons and promised to practice.

A kindergartner does not practice by herself, so I had to sit with her and supervise her practice sessions. I also sit in their lessons, of course. Well, I used to sit in all their lessons, but now I have relaxed my standards a bit. If I know there are no issues, I can go to the car and read or play with my younger child or read to her. She loves it.

May 2018 Piano Recital

Overall, my children love piano. They do not sigh when it is time for them to practice, or at least they do not sigh as much as when they need to practice violin. If you asked them, they would tell you they prefer piano.

It shows the importance of a good teacher. With piano, we started with a great teacher and she has laid a great foundation for their technical skills and their attitude toward the instrument.

May 2018 Piano Recital – our son

Maybe that’s why I have blogged much more about violin than piano. We have no issues with our piano lessons – a rather boring blog post. Showing how we overcame our violin struggles – now that’s more exciting! And yet. Let us celebrate the May 2018 piano recital, the first one with trophies. We have been working hard for more than three years. Time to celebrate.